US8296531B2 - Storage system, control unit, image forming apparatus, image forming method, and computer readable medium - Google Patents
Storage system, control unit, image forming apparatus, image forming method, and computer readable medium Download PDFInfo
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- US8296531B2 US8296531B2 US12/198,736 US19873608A US8296531B2 US 8296531 B2 US8296531 B2 US 8296531B2 US 19873608 A US19873608 A US 19873608A US 8296531 B2 US8296531 B2 US 8296531B2
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- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims description 20
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- 238000005192 partition Methods 0.000 description 10
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- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 8
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- G06F3/06—Digital input from, or digital output to, record carriers, e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers or networked record carriers
- G06F3/0601—Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems
- G06F3/0628—Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems making use of a particular technique
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- G06F11/10—Adding special bits or symbols to the coded information, e.g. parity check, casting out 9's or 11's
- G06F11/1076—Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
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- G06F11/20—Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements
- G06F11/2053—Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements where persistent mass storage functionality or persistent mass storage control functionality is redundant
- G06F11/2056—Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements where persistent mass storage functionality or persistent mass storage control functionality is redundant by mirroring
- G06F11/2087—Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements where persistent mass storage functionality or persistent mass storage control functionality is redundant by mirroring with a common controller
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- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
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- H04N2201/0077—Types of the still picture apparatus
- H04N2201/0094—Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a storage system, a control unit, an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and a computer readable medium.
- RAID Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks
- the RAID method is classified into several levels. Specifically, in order to obtain the high speed performance, there is used a RAID0 (striping) method; to obtain the high reliability performance, there is used a RAID1 (mirroring) method; and, to obtain both the high speed and high reliability performance, there is used RAID10 (striping+mirroring) method.
- storage system includes: N pieces of storages that stores electronic information, N being an integral number that is two or more; and a controller that obtains electronic information to be written, wherein the controller, in a case where the electronic information to be written is a first kind of electronic information, divides the electronic information to be written into N pieces, and independently writes the divided electronic information into each of the N pieces of storage, and the controller, in the electronic information to be written is a second kind of electronic information, redundantly writes the electronic information to be written into each of the N pieces of storage.
- FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of the structure of a storage system according to an embodiment of the invention
- FIG. 2 is a view of an example of a storage area formed in a storage device
- FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of the structure of a storage system including two storage devices
- FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the storage system shown in FIG. 3 , showing a state where one of the two storage devices fails;
- FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an example of the operation of a control unit
- FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example of the structure of an image forming apparatus including a storage system according to the embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 7 is a view of an example of an operation setting screen for storage device failure employed in a composite machine.
- FIG. 8 is a view of an example of storage areas used in a composite machine.
- FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of the structure a storage system 1 according to the embodiment of the invention.
- a storage system 1 includes N (N is an integral number which 2 or more) pieces of storage devices 10 A, 10 B, . . . , and a control unit 20 .
- N is an integral number which 2 or more
- the storage devices 10 A, 10 B, . . . are generically referred to as “a storage device 10 ” unless it is necessary to specially distinguish them from each other.
- the storage device 10 is a device which stores electronic information.
- the storage device 10 is, for example, a hard disk (a magnetic disk device) but it may also be other kinds of storage devices such as a solid state disk device (SSD: Solid State Drive).
- the electronic information is, for example, image data, sound data, movie data, data of various kinds of application software, and other similar types of information.
- the control unit 20 is a device which carries out a control operation to obtain electronic information to be written and write the thus obtained electronic information to be written into the storage device 10 .
- the control unit 20 may also carry out a control operation to read out the electronic information from the storage device 10 and a control operation to delete the electronic information stored in the storage device 10 .
- the control unit 20 can be realized by the cooperation of a hardware resource and software; for example, a computer.
- the function of the control unit 20 can be realized in such a manner that a program stored in a recording medium is read out by a main memory and is executed by a CPU (Central Processing Unit).
- the above program can be provided in such a manner that it is recorded into a recording medium such as a CD-ROM which can be read by a computer, or it can be provided through communication in the form of a data signal.
- the control unit 20 may also be realized by only hardware.
- the control unit 20 can also be realized physically by a single device or by a plurality of devices.
- control device 20 is structured in the following manner.
- control unit 20 includes, as function blocks, an obtain portion 21 and a control portion 22 .
- the obtain portion 21 obtains electronic information to be written into N pieces of storage devices 10 .
- the obtain portion 21 accepts electronic information to be written from an electronic information supply device 30 .
- the electronic information supply device 30 is provided physically integrally with the control device 20 .
- the control unit 20 and electronic information supply device 30 can be realized by a single computer.
- the control device 20 is realized by an operating system (OS) or the like, while the electronic information supply device 30 is realized by application software.
- the electronic information supply device 30 is provided physically separately from the control unit 20 .
- the control unit 20 and electronic information supply device 30 can be realized by two computers which are connected together in such a manner that they can be communicated with each other.
- the obtain portion 21 may accept not only the electronic information to be written but also a specification for the destination of the present electronic information, or may accept only the electronic information to be written. That is, the obtain portion 21 may obtain the electronic information the write destination of which is specified, or may obtain the electronic information the write destination of which is not specified.
- the control portion 22 when the electronic information to be written obtained by the obtain portion 21 is a first kind of electronic information, divides the present electronic information to be written into N pieces of electronic information and writes them into the N pieces of storage devices 10 respectively; and, when the electronic information to be written is a second kind of electronic information, the control portion 22 writes the electronic information to be written into each of the N pieces of storage devices 10 overlappingly.
- the control portion 22 when the electronic information to be written is the first kind of electronic information, the control portion 22 writes the electronic information to be written into the N pieces of storage devices 10 according to a striping method (RAID0) in which data are divided and written into a plurality of storage devices; and, when the electronic information to be written is the second kind of electronic information, the control portion 22 writes the electronic information to be written into each of the N pieces of storage devices 10 overlappingly according to a mirroring method (RAID1) in which the same data are written into each of a plurality of storage devices overlappingly.
- RAID0 and RAID1 may be realized by a hardware method using hardware such as a RAID controller, or may be realized by a software method using software such as an OS.
- the first kind of electronic information includes: electronic information not requiring long storage; electronic information of low significance; electronic information not requiring high reliability performance; electronic information requiring high speed performance; and, electronic information to be stored temporarily in the storage device 10 .
- the second kind of electronic information for example, includes: electronic information requiring long storage; electronic information of high significance; electronic information requiring high reliability performance; and, electronic information not requiring high speed performance.
- the storage device 10 is used as a temporary storage area.
- the storage system 1 is used in a printing apparatus or a composite machine, as the electronic information requiring high reliability performance, there can be used, for example, various kinds of system data, facsimile receiving documents, PDL (Page Description Language) data of a print, and user setting data.
- the composite machine means a machine which has at least two of a copy function, a printer function, and a facsimile function.
- each of N pieces of storage devices 10 A, 10 B, . . . there are previously set two kinds of storage areas: that is, first storage areas 11 A, 11 B, . . . for use in a method in which electronic information is divided and written into a plurality of storage devices divisionally; and, second storage areas for use in a method in which electronic information is written into each of a plurality of storage devices overlappingly.
- the control unit 20 divides and writes the electronic information to be written into N pieces of first storage areas 11 A, 11 B, . . . divisionally; and, when the electronic information to be written is the second kind of electronic information, the control unit 20 writes the electronic information to be written into each of N pieces of second storage areas 12 A, 12 B, . . . overlappingly.
- the above-mentioned N pieces of first storage areas 11 A, 11 B, . . . are respectively partitions and constitute a stripe volume which is a logic volume.
- the N pieces of second storage areas 12 A, 12 B, . . . are respectively partitions and constitute a mirror volume which is a logic volume.
- the first storage areas 11 A, 11 B, . . . are set, for example, in such areas of the storage areas of the storage device 10 that can be accessed at a high speed.
- the first areas 11 A, 11 B, . . . are set, for example, in the outer peripheral side area of the hard disk.
- first storage areas 11 A, 11 B, . . . need not be distinguished from each other specially, they are generically referred to as “a first storage area 11 ”.
- second storage areas 12 A, 12 B, . . . need not be distinguished from each other specially, they are generically referred to as “a second storage area 11 ”.
- the control unit 20 divides and writes the present electronic information to be written into N pieces of first storage areas 11 divisionally; and, when the electronic information to be written is electronic information in which a second storage area is specified as the writing destination thereof, the control unit 20 writes the electronic information to be written into each of the N pieces of second storage areas 12 overlappingly.
- spare storage areas 13 A, 13 B, . . . respectively which have a storage capacity as equal to or as substantially equal to a storage capacity which is (N ⁇ 1) times as large as the storage capacity of the first storage area.
- the present spare storage are as 13 A, 13 B, . . . are, for example, areas which are formed continuous with the first storage area 11 .
- the storage capacity substantially equal to a storage capacity which is (N ⁇ 1) times as large as the storage capacity of the first storage area 11 is, for example, a storage capacity substantially equal to such storage capacity that is (N ⁇ 1) times as large as the storage capacity of the first area 11 the composing unit of which can realize, when such storage capacity (N ⁇ 1) times as large as the storage capacity of the first area 11 cannot be realized by a composing unit such as the bit width, sector, cluster, partition or the like of the storage device 10 .
- the above-mentioned N pieces of first storage areas 11 respectively have storage capacities equal to each other.
- spare storage areas 13 A, 13 B, . . . need not be distinguished from each other specially, they are referred to as “a spare storage area 13 ” generically.
- the control unit 20 sets newly a first storage area 11 for each of M pieces of normal storage devices 10 using the spare storage area 13 .
- the newly set M pieces of first storage areas 11 is set such that the total storage capacity of the present M pieces of first storage areas is equal to or substantially equal to the total storage capacity of the original N pieces of first storage area 11 .
- the smallest one of the capacities of the present M pieces of first storage areas becomes a factor which reduces the total storage capacity, thereby raising a possibility that those of the other remaining storage areas 11 exceeding the above-mentioned smallest capacity can be wasted. Therefore, preferably, the respective storage capacities of the present M pieces of first storage areas 11 may be set such that they are equal to each other.
- the new M pieces of first storage areas 11 are set such that their storage capacities may be (N ⁇ S/M).
- the control unit 20 divides and writes the electronic information to be written into the newly set M pieces of first storage areas 11 .
- the control unit 20 divides and writes the electronic information to be written into the newly set M pieces of first storage areas 11 .
- the total storage capacity of M pieces of first storage areas 11 when it is set larger than the storage capacity (N ⁇ S/M) by such an amount capable of making up for this remainder, is substantially equal to the total storage capacity of the original N pieces of storage areas 11 and also substantially equal to the storage capacity when the storage devices 10 are all normal in operation.
- the control unit 20 sets newly a first storage area 11 for the normal single storage device 10 using a spare storage area 13 .
- the new first storage area 11 is set such that the storage capacity thereof becomes equal to the total storage capacity of the original N pieces of storage areas 11 .
- the new first storage area 11 is set such that it has a storage capacity (N ⁇ S).
- the control unit 20 writes the electronic information to be written into the newly set single first storage area 11 .
- the control unit 20 carries out an initializing processing (that is, a formatting processing) to set a new first storage area 11 in a normal storage device 10 and, using the normal storage device 10 , maintains a function to record first and second kinds of electronic information.
- an initializing processing that is, a formatting processing
- the control unit 20 restores the first storage area 11 using the format as well as restores the second storage area 12 using a reproducing processing (that is, a rebuilding processing).
- the second storage area 12 is divided into a plurality of storage areas. In this embodiment, when the abnormal storage device 10 is replaced with a new storage device 10 , of the above-mentioned plurality of storage areas, the areas unused are restored according to a formatting processing not according to a rebuilding processing.
- the storage system 1 may be composed of two storage devices 10 .
- FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of the structure of a storage system 1 including two storage devices 10 .
- the storage system 1 includes two storage devices 10 A and 10 B.
- the storage areas of the two storage devices 10 A and 10 B are respectively divided to a first storage area 11 , a spare storage area 13 and a second storage area 12 .
- the storage capacity of the first storage area 11 and the storage capacity of the spare storage area 13 are equal to each other.
- the first storage areas 11 A and 11 B cooperate together in constituting a first volume V 1
- the second storage areas 12 A and 12 B cooperate together in constituting a second volume V 2 .
- FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the storage system shown in FIG. 3 , showing a state where one storage device 10 A fails.
- the control unit 20 carries out a processing on the other storage device 10 B, specifically, connects together the first storage area 11 B and spare storage area 13 B to thereby provide a new first storage area 11 B′.
- a storage area for recording a first kind of electronic information there is secured a storage area having a size equal to that of a storage area when the storage device 10 A is in a normal state.
- the control unit 20 carries out, for example, an area initializing operation (a formatting operation) in the system starting time after the storage device 10 becomes abnormal in operation.
- an area initializing operation a formatting operation
- the new first storage area 11 B′ constitutes a first volume V 1 ′
- the second storage area 12 B constitutes a second volume V 2 ′.
- OS operating systems
- it seems that the structure of the volume is not changed between before and after the storage device 10 becomes abnormal in operation.
- the spare storage area when, in the spare storage area, it is not possible to secure a storage area equal to or substantially equal to a storage area which is (N ⁇ 1) times as large as the first storage area, it is also possible to control a memory area in such a manner that unnecessary data stored in the first or second storage area are deleted sequentially to thereby secure such storage area.
- the unnecessary data for example, in a storage system according to the invention employed in an image forming apparatus 100 (which will be discussed later), there can be pointed out, for example, image data relating to the images that have been already formed.
- FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an example of the operation of the control unit 20 . Now, description will be given below of an example of the operation of the control unit 20 with reference to FIG. 5 . Here, the description will be given using the storage system 1 shown in FIG. 3 .
- the control unit 20 waits until it receives a write request including the electronic information to be written and a pass serving as information for showing the writing destination (S 11 : NO) and, when it receives the write request (S 11 : YES), it advances the processing to Step 12 .
- Step S 12 the control unit 20 checks whether the pass included in the write request specifies the first volume V 1 or second volume V 2 . That is, the control unit 20 checks whether the write destination of the electronic information to be written is the first volume V 1 or second volume V 2 .
- the control unit 20 divides and writes the electronic information to be written included in the write request into the two first storage areas 11 A and 11 B according to a striping method (S 13 ).
- the control unit 20 writes the electronic information to be written included in the write request into the two second storage areas 12 A and 12 B overlappingly according to a mirroring method (S 14 ).
- FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example of the structure of an image forming apparatus 100 including the storage system according to the present embodiment. Now, description will be given below of the image forming apparatus 100 with reference to FIG. 6 .
- the image forming apparatus 100 is a system which realizes a given function using the storage system 1 .
- the image forming apparatus 100 is not specially limited but it may be, for example, a printing apparatus or a composite machine.
- the image forming apparatus 100 includes the storage system 1 and a function realizing portion 50 which realizes a given function using the storage system 1 .
- the function realizing portion 50 reads and writes electronic information with respect to N pieces of storage devices 10 through the control unit 20 to thereby realize a given function.
- the control unit 20 and function realizing portion 50 can be realized by a single computer.
- the control unit 20 can be realized by an operating system (os) or the like, while the function realizing portion 50 can be realized by application software.
- the function realizing portion 50 is physically provided separately from the control unit 20 .
- the control unit 20 and function realizing portion 50 can be realized by two computers which are connected together in a mutually communicatable manner.
- the number of the normal storage devices 10 is decreased, whereby the access speed of the first storage area 11 is reduced.
- the control unit 20 when one or more of N pieces of storage devices 10 are abnormal in operation, the control unit 20 not only carries out an electronic information read and write operation using the normal ones of N pieces of storage devices 10 in order that the function realizing portion 50 can realize its function, but also executes a control operation to limit the function of the function realizing portion 50 . Owing to this, even when one or more of N pieces of storage devices 10 fail and the access speed of the first storage area 11 is thereby reduced, the image forming apparatus 100 does not fail in operation but is able to operate in a state where the function thereof is limited.
- the function realizing portion 50 is an image forming portion which writes image information serving as a first kind of electronic information into N pieces of storage devices 10 , reads the thus written image information from N pieces of storage devices 10 and, based on the thus read-out image information, forms an image on a recording medium such as paper.
- the control unit 20 when one or more of N pieces of storage devices 10 are abnormal in operation, not only carries out an electronic information read and write operation using the normal ones of N pieces of storage devices 10 in order that the function realizing portion 50 can realize the image formation, but also executes a control operation to reduce the speed of the image formation by the function realizing portion 50 and the resolution of the image.
- control unit 20 has a function to accept from a user the setting of the operation when one or more of N pieces of storage devices 10 fail.
- control unit 20 displays an operation setting screen for storage device failure on a user interface, and accepts the operation setting on this operation setting screen.
- FIG. 7 shows an example of the operation setting screen for storage device failure in a composite machine.
- an operation for storage device failure there can be selected any one of the following operations, that is, “stop”, “low speed output”, “low resolution output” and “stop of specific function”.
- stop the control unit 20 stops all functions of the image forming apparatus (here, the printing apparatus) 100 .
- low speed output the control unit 20 reduces the output speed of printing down to or lower than a given speed to thereby correspond it to the reduced access speed.
- “low resolution output” the control unit 20 reduces the resolution of the output image down to or lower than a given resolution to thereby correspond it to the reduced access speed.
- the control unit 20 stops a specific function, in which there can be raised a problem due to the reduced access speed, and makes it possible to use other function than the above-mentioned specific function that raises no problem even when the access speed is reduced.
- the above-mentioned specific function for example, there can be pointed out a copy function or a printer function.
- the other function than the above-mentioned specific function for example, there can be pointed out an edit function for an address book and a user setting as well as the receiving function of a facsimile.
- FIG. 8 shows the state of storage areas employed in a composite machine.
- the composite machine includes storage devices 10 A and 10 B.
- the storage device 10 A is divided to five partitions P 11 ⁇ P 15
- the storage device 10 B is divided to five partitions P 21 ⁇ P 25 .
- the partitions P 11 and P 21 cooperate together in constituting a volume V 11
- the partitions P 12 and P 22 cooperate together in constituting a volume V 12
- the partitions P 13 and P 23 cooperate together in constituting a volume V 13
- the partitions P 14 and P 24 cooperate together in constituting a volume V 14
- the partitions P 15 and P 25 cooperate together in constituting a volume a volume V 15 .
- the volume V 11 is an area for storing raster data for copy
- the volume V 12 is an area for storing raster data for print
- the volume V 13 is an area for storing facsimile receiving documents
- the volume V 14 is an area for storing an address book
- the volume V 15 is an area for storing user setting information. Since the raster data for copy and print are the data that need not long storage but need high speed performance, the volumes V 11 and V 12 are respectively a stripe volume which can be accessed according to a striping method (RAID0). On the other hand, since the facsimile receiving documents, address book and user setting information are the data that need long storage, the volumes V 13 ⁇ V 15 are respectively a mirror volume which can be accessed according to a mirroring method (RAID1).
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Abstract
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Claims (19)
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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JP2008-077122 | 2008-03-25 | ||
JP2008077122A JP2009230608A (en) | 2008-03-25 | 2008-03-25 | Storage system, control device, image forming apparatus and control program |
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US20090248998A1 US20090248998A1 (en) | 2009-10-01 |
US8296531B2 true US8296531B2 (en) | 2012-10-23 |
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US12/198,736 Active 2030-06-22 US8296531B2 (en) | 2008-03-25 | 2008-08-26 | Storage system, control unit, image forming apparatus, image forming method, and computer readable medium |
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US8601311B2 (en) | 2010-12-14 | 2013-12-03 | Western Digital Technologies, Inc. | System and method for using over-provisioned data capacity to maintain a data redundancy scheme in a solid state memory |
US8700950B1 (en) | 2011-02-11 | 2014-04-15 | Western Digital Technologies, Inc. | System and method for data error recovery in a solid state subsystem |
US8700951B1 (en) | 2011-03-09 | 2014-04-15 | Western Digital Technologies, Inc. | System and method for improving a data redundancy scheme in a solid state subsystem with additional metadata |
JP2013041430A (en) | 2011-08-16 | 2013-02-28 | Konica Minolta Business Technologies Inc | Image forming apparatus and control method of image forming apparatus |
JP6233279B2 (en) * | 2014-11-07 | 2017-11-22 | コニカミノルタ株式会社 | Image forming apparatus, control program for image forming apparatus, and controller |
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